Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1887-01-05
EARLY IOWA DAYS.
Stary of Bloody Battle Between Keo.
kuk's Band and the Savage Sioux.

St@ry or BLOODY Battle Between Keo-
kuk's Band and the Savage Sioux.
Captain William Phelps, veteran
of the United States service in the
olden time, and one of the first white
settlers of Iowa, recently gave the fol-
lowing interesting Renaissance of his
experience among the Indians before
the Territory was fairly opened to set
Element and during the time when a
bloody warfare was waged between
the ancient Sacs and Fox tribes and
their enemies the Sioux. Captain
Phelps said:
1t was my good, or bad fortune,
when yet a young man. to be an eye
witness, and to some extent participa-
tor, in one of the bloodiest battles of an
Gent or modern times, considering the
number of men engaged If my mem
DRY serves me right it was early in the
year of 1888 that had occasion to take
load of supplies to band of the Fox
indians, who were camped on the
Skunk river, not far from the place
where the village of Rome now stands.
[ was then stationed at the block
house, a few miles below Ottumwa, and
drove across the country, reaching the
village about three o clock in the after
noon. The site chosen was a beautiful
one, being perfectly level plateau
several acres in extent, bordering upon
the bank of the river and fringed with
semi-circle of heavy forest which
rose over the surrounding bluffs and
presented an unbroken surface of liv-
ing green so far as the eye could ex-
tend in every direction. After gazing
for some time upon the scene from the
summit of a neighboring bluff l drove
down through the little town and
pitched my tent at the upper end near
the river bank. Nothing could exceed
the hospitality of the reception given
rs, and we were soon completely at
home.
Nothing happened to arouse our
suspicion in the least during the re-
mainder of that summer day, and all
went to bed at an early hour without
dreaming of danger which must have
been lowering over us at that time.
About midnight | was awakened by
chorus of the most hideous wells that
ever came from the lips of human be-
ings. 1t seemed to me that the woods
must be filled with devils, and that
their revelS were to be over us. For a
moment recovering my presence OF
mind | gathered together my men and
rushed for the open space in the center
of the village. Every thing was in the
utmost confusion, the women and
children running for places of safety,
some of the braves panic-stricken and
the enemy right upon us apparent thy
about TO take possession. 1t was a
band of the Sioux who had crept upon
the sleeping town in the middle of the
night and attacked it in this ferocious
manner, the perfect surprise throwing
the boldest of the Fox warriors into a
panic for moment. | realized that
our only hope for escaping was to beat
them back, and assisted the chiefs in
every way to rally their men. This
required but few moments, and then
ensued one of the bloodiest battles that
was ever fought by humans. The
night was dark as starlight night in
Iowa SO often is, and after the first
few minutes of yelling every thing
settled down into quiet that was far
more oppressive than the noise had
been. Only an occasional shot could
be heard. as almost all of them relied
upon their knives and tomahawks to
dc the bloody work. 1t was a still
hunt and to the death. Each man
sought out an opponent, and they
fought together until one or
the other was dead For two long
hours that dreadful fight went on,
the quiet of the night being only
broken by an occasional death yell or
the report of solitary gun. At last
the attacking party broke and fled in
haste from the field, leaving their dead,
a thing thsy would not have done if
their spirits had not been completely |
broken. The next morning there were
one hundred dead lying upon the field, I
and when you consider that there were
not more than two hundred and fifty
engaged you can imagine how deadly
was the strife. The firearms of to-day /
could not have done such execution. /
OF the dead seventy were Sioux, show
ing how desperately the attacked had
fought to save their homes and fami-
lies. Such scenes as this were not I'M
common in those days but they would |
create no little wonder to-day. and
miny who have come to Iowa since her |
fertile fields have been TILED and since
all these wonderful cit es have grown !
up, will be unable to understand how
they could ever have happened.
Bad as was the fight, the dog-feast |
which followed was to me even worse,
and l tried in every way to get out of
1t. Old Keokuk said it was strange tn at !
a maA who could fight Indians so could
not eat dog, but somehow | could not
get up an appetite for that feast.
finally managed to slip out of it, but
always thought the Indians had lost
something OF their respect for me be-
cause of my doing So
From Mrs Phelps the eporterlearned
that the Captain had played GU tie
prominent part in this sanguinary con-
tict and was held in high regard by
the Sass and Foxes by reason of his
bravery. --Des MONIES fla. B. Cor, CHI
c0gO Inter Ocean.
A Customer Nailed for Life. /
FoI